Category: English Page 1 of 2

John Boyle’s book is a collection of letters, just like many travel accounts of his time. Interestingly, his letter starts from Lyons, France and ends with annecdotes from Florence without mentioning Rome or other Italian cities. As 5^th earl of Cork, it seems that he was in connection with distinguished members of the society during his trip. John Duncombe, the editor of this book, writes in the preface that Boyle presented Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language to the Accademia della Crusca while residing in Florence.
Although Boyle mentions Camposanto, his description of it is quite short. He does not even specify, what kind of “miracles” take place in the sacred ground. It seems that the power of the holy earth consuming dead bodies was well-known, as Boyle states, the miracles are “undoubtedly recorded by many legendary writers.” Editor’s notes in the book are worth paying attention in this book. Duncombe refers to Tobias Smollett and Edward Wright in the Letter IX, which manifests that he actively consulted other previously published travel books. / DJ

“The burying –place [Il campo santo] is encompassed by a Gothic cloister, like that of Westminster, but in an oblong square [note by the editor: Its inner area is filled with earth which was brought from Jerusalem, in 1228, as ballast, in the galleys of the Pisans, when they returned form warring with the Turks, and from thence takes its name: it was begun to be built in the year 1200, and was finished in 1278. It is the property of the Jerusalem-earth to reduce a body to skeleton in twenty-four hours. Wright]. Miracles attend every inch of the sacred ground. They are undoubtedly recorded by many legendary writers. I will not add to the number.
Around the walks of the cloister, are ranged many sarcophagi, some very fine, in alto relievo. They were found in different parts of Europe, and brought hither, as to a repository, by the purchase and command of the former great dukes of Tuscany.”

Tobias Smollett was an acclaimed novelist of his time, known for his picaresque novels, a genre of fiction depicting the comedic and satiric adventures of a  lower-class protagonist. His gift for writing is also reflected in the Travels, which is a personal account that also provides factual information based on other guidebooks. Smollett traveled with his wife across the European continent between 1763 and 1765 in an effort to find a more agreeable climate for his failing health. The letters that comprise his travel book were most likely written while he was staying in Nice. Based on his book, we can reconstruct his travel itinerary. He entered Italy through Genoa, traveled along the Mediterranean coast till he reached Pisa, and then headed to Rome via Florence and Siena.
His gives a critical description of the paintings on the walls of the Camposanto. The drawing is “incorrect, lame and unnatural,” he writes. Still, he recognizes the new developments in  art at the beginning of Renaissance. The section on the earth of the Camposanto is interesting. According to Smollett, the earth consumes bodies in nine days, instead of twenty-four hours, as other authors of his day such as Johann Georg Keyssler record. Smollett is not convinced of the legend, though, and writes of the earth, “it is no other than common earth mixed with quick-lime.” / DJ

“Between the cathedral and this building, about one hundred paces on one side, is the famous burying-ground, called Campo Santo, from its being covered with earth brought from Jerusalem. It is an oblong square, surrounded by a very high wall, and always kept shut. Within-side there is a spacious corridore round the whole space, which is a noble walk for a contemplative philosopher. It is paved chiefly with flat grave-stones: the walls are painted in fresco by Ghiotto, Giottino, Stefano, Bennoti, Bufulmaco, and some others of his contemporaries and disciples, who flourished immediately after the restoration of painting. The subjects are taken from the Bible. Though the manner is dry, the drawing incorrect, the design generally lame, and the colouring unnatural; yet there is merit in the expression: and the whole remains as a curious monument of the efforts made by this noble art immediately after her revival. Here are some deceptions in perspective equally ingenious and pleasing; particularly the figures of certain animals, which exhibit exactly the same appearance, from whatever different points of view they are seen. One division of the burying-ground consists of a particular compost, which in nine days consumes the dead bodies to the bones: in all probability, it is no other than common earth mixed with quick-lime. At one corner of the corridore, there are the pictures of three bodies represented in the three different stages of putrefaction which they undergo when laid in this composition. At the end of the three first days, the body is bloated and swelled, and the features are enlarged and distorted to such a degree, as fills the spectator with horror. At the sixth day, the swelling is subsided, and all the muscular flesh hangs loosened from the bones: at the ninth, nothing but the skeleton remains.”

William Beckford’s travelogue may be the most literary among the travel literature compiled for this blog. Beckford was a novelist, well-known for his Gothic novel Vathek, as well as an art collector. His book is composed of letters from different parts of Europe, written as he traveled.

Letter XV describes him arriving from Lucca and visiting the Duomo and Camposanto in Pisa. The illustrative language and the romanticization of the Gothic architecture in his writing are noteworthy. Beckford emphasizes the exotic aspect of the Camposanto with adjectives such as “light”, “fresh” and “strange.” Although he follows models found in existing travel literature in describing the Camposanto, he also deviates from tradition: the Camposanto is not only a burial place with holy earth from Jerusalem, but a place of experience, full of interesting details.

Source: [William Beckford,] Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents: In a Series of Letters, from Various Parts of Europe (London: J. Johnson and P. Elmsly, 1783)

Letter XV. Livourno, October 2d

“Our next object was the Campo Santo, which forms one side of the opening in which the cathedral is situated. The walls, and gothic tabernacle above the entrance, rising from a level turf, appear as fresh as if built within the century, and, preserving a neat straw colour, have the cleanliest effect imaginable. Our guide unlocking the gates, we entered a spacious cloister, forming an oblong quadrangle, inclosing the sacred earth of Jerusalem, conveyed thither about the period of the crusades, in the days of Pisanese prosperity. The holy mould produces a rampant crop of weeds; but none are permitted to spring from the pavement, which is entirely composed of tombs with slabs and monumental inscriptions, smoothly laid. Ranges of slender pillars, formed of the whitest marble and glistening in the sun, support the arcades of the cloister, which are carved with innumerable stars and roses, partly gothic and partly saracenial. Strange paintings of hell and the devil, mostly taken from Dante’s rhapsodies, cover the walls of these fantastic galleries, attributed to the venerable Giotto, and Bufalmacco, whom Boccace mentions in his Decamerone. Beneath, along the base of the columns, rows of Pagan sarcophagi are placed, to my no small surprise; as I could not have supposed the Pisanese sufficiently tolerant to admit profane sculptures within such consecrated precincts. However, there they are, as well as fifty other contradictory ornaments. I was quite seized by the strangeness of the place, and paced fifty times round and round the cloisters, discovering at every time, some odd novelty. When tired, I seated myself on a fair slab of giallo antico, that looked a little cleaner than its neighbours (which I only mention to identify the precise point of view), and looking through the filigreed tracery of the arches observed the domes of the cathedral, cupola of the baptistery, and roof of the leaning tower, rising above the leads, and forming the strangest assemblage of pinnacles, perhaps, in Europe. The place is neither sad, nor solemn; the arches are airy, the pillars light, and there is so much caprice, such an exotic look in the whole scene, that, without any violent effort of imagination, one might imagine one’s self in fairy land. Every object is new, every ornament original; the mixture of antique sarcophagi with gothic sepulchres, compleats the vagaries of the prospect, to which, one day or other, I think of returning, to act a visionary part, hear visionary music, and commune with sprites; for I shall never find in the whole universe besides, so whimsical a theatre. It was between ten and eleven when we entered the Campo Santo, and one o’clock struck, before I could be persuaded to leave it; and ‘twas the sun which then drove me away; whose heat was so powerful, that all the inhabitants of Pisa shewed their wisdom, by keeping within doors.”

Thomas Nugent was an Irish historian who spent most his life in London. He was a well-read and well-travelled scholar. Thomas Nugent’s The Grand Tour demonstrates a change in the trend of the Grand Tour. As the full title of the book suggests (The Grand Tour. Containing an Exact Description of most of the Cities, Towns, and Remarkable Places of Europe), Nugent has composed a practical guide for eighteenth-century travelers.
In the preface, Nugent explains that he intends the book to be “for real use.” He criticizes earlier travel literature for focusing too much on describing the curious nature of foreign lands; those books, however entertaining the may be, do not contain practical information for a traveler. Perhaps comparable to Wikipedia, Nugent’s book carries encyclopedic information for each country. He divides the information into several sections, starting with a general description of the country, followed by a description of its provinces, giving details of history and politics, he then moves on to social and cultural information. The book was designed for readers to  get thorough knowledge of a country. In Volume 3, Nugent even devoted a whole section to coins in Italy to help travelers avoid confusion.
Camposanto is introduced as one of the major monuments of Pisa. It is notable that the legend of the earth from the holy land is still firmly in place. Unlike many of the earlier sources, Nugent mentions the paintings of Camposanto.

Source: Thomas Nugent, The Grand Tour. Containing an Exact Description of Most of the Cities, Towns, and Remarkable Places of Europe, 4 vols. (London: S. Birt, 1749), 3:329.

“Near it is the burying-place, called Campo Santo, being covered with earth brought from the Holy-Land. This burying place is inclosed with a broad portico, well painted, and paved with grave-stones. Under the portico there is a decree of the city, ordering the inhabitants to wear mourning a year for the death of Caesar.”